Electronic program guides (EPGs) enable TV viewers to navigate through an onscreen program guide and locate shows. With the guides, viewers can look at schedules of current and future programming, set reminders for upcoming programs, or enter instructions to record one or more shows.
Program data for an EPG is stored in the client memory. The amount of EPG data available for the EPG is dependent upon the resource environment at the client. In a low-resource environment, meaning the client has limited memory and/or processing resources, the amount of memory reserved for program data and the ability to perform operations on the data, such as searching, are limited.
Accordingly, for such low-resource environments, there is a need for techniques to compress the EPG data for more efficient storage at the client, yet in a manner that allows effective searching with limited processing capabilities.